Part 1

+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Books by John Burroughs. | | | | WORKS. Each volume, 16mo, gilt top, $1.25; the set, 11 vols., | | uniform, $13.75; half calf, gilt top, $27.50; half polished | | morocco, $30.25. | | | | WAKE-ROBIN. | | WINTER SUNSHINE. | | LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY. | | FRESH FIELDS. | | INDOOR STUDIES. | | BIRDS AND POETS, with Other Papers. | | PEPACTON, and Other Sketches. | | SIGNS AND SEASONS. | | RIVERBY. | | WHITMAN: A STUDY. | | THE LIGHT OF DAY: Religious Discussions and | | Criticisms from the Standpoint of a Naturalist. | | | | A YEAR IN THE FIELDS. Selections appropriate to each season | | of the year, from the writings of John Burroughs. Illustrated | | from Photographs by CLIFTON JOHNSON. Uniform with | | the Riverside Edition of Burroughs's works. 12mo, $1.50. | | | | WHITMAN: A Study. Riverside Edition. 12mo, $1.50, net. | | | | THE LIGHT OF DAY: Religious Discussions and Criticisms from | | the Standpoint of a Naturalist. Riverside Edition. 12mo, | | $1.50, net. | | | | WINTER SUNSHINE. Cambridge Classics Series. Crown 8vo, | | $1.00. | | | | WAKE-ROBIN. Riverside Aldine Series. 16mo, $1.00. | | | | SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS. Illustrated. Square 12mo, | | $1.00. | | | | HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. | +---------------------------------------------------------------+

RIVERBY

JOHN BURROUGHS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge

Copyright, 1894, 1895, BY JOHN BURROUGHS.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.

PREFATORY NOTE

I have often said to myself, "Why should not one name his books as he names his children, arbitrarily, and let the name come to mean much or little, as the case may be?" In the case of the present volume—probably my last collection of Out-of-door Papers—I have taken this course, and have given to the book the name of my place here on the Hudson, "Riverby," by the river, where the sketches were written, and where for so many years I have been an interested spectator of the life of nature, as, with the changing seasons, it has ebbed and flowed past my door.

J. B.

CONTENTS

PAGE I. AMONG THE WILD-FLOWERS 1

II. THE HEART OF THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 33

III. BIRDS' EGGS 61

IV. BIRD COURTSHIP 77

V. NOTES FROM THE PRAIRIE 87

VI. EYE-BEAMS 111

VII. A YOUNG MARSH HAWK 133

VIII. THE CHIPMUNK 145

IX. SPRING JOTTINGS 155

X. GLIMPSES OF WILD LIFE 171

XI. A LIFE OF FEAR 193

XII. LOVERS OF NATURE 203

XIII. A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GRASS 221

XIV. IN MAMMOTH CAVE 241

XV. HASTY OBSERVATION 251

XVI. BIRD LIFE IN AN OLD APPLE-TREE 271

XVII. THE WAYS OF SPORTSMEN 277